Will Steger Foundation Expedition Copenhagen 2009

The Expedition Copenhagen team consists of Midwest youth who will travel to the international climate negotiations in Copenhagen, Denmark, December 5-19, 2009. The expedition will be led in part by internationally renowned polar explorer Will Steger, and designed in collaboration with youth climate partners across the region.

On Friday, I caught Jessy Tolkan at the Bella Center in Copenhagen to find out about the role of Midwest youth in fighting climate change. Tolkan, who is the executive director of the Energy Action Coaliton, the largest network of youth climate activists in the U.S., revealed that she was a Midwesterner herself, hailing from Wisconsin. Here’s a recap of what she said about how youth can flex their political muscle in the Midwest.
Tolkan: My message to young people in the Midwest , is that the Midwest, in many ways, is the key to unlocking a clean and just energy future in the United States.
It’s also critical that we flex the political muscle that we have in the Midwest. There are some very key senators from places like Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, the Upper Midwest that really need to understand that a clean and just energy future is good for business in the Midwest, that there is a significant and powerful role for the agricultural community to play in a clean and just energy future.
It really is incumbent upon young people in the Midwest to have this conversation so that we’re building the will for bold action in the Midwest that we need.
Some of the folks with the greatest amount of conviction hail from the Midwest so I know that if it can happen anywhere, it’s definitely the Midwest.